Pokemon Aura Guardian: The Power of Aura
by JazzApples
Summary: Concerning: The target, his friends and operative. Containing: The truth of the target's Ash's Sinnoh journey. DE-CLASSIFIED.
1. Chapter 1

A Brief Foreword

Congratulations! You decided to seek the truth!

Okay, so whatever you've heard about Ash on his Sinnoh journey on the news is most likely not the truth. Yeah, the press often exaggerates _everything_, but this is a special case. You see, this time, what you have heard of Ash lately is not the truth _at all_. Seriously.

Why? Well, some things had to be kept secret, or there would be a public mass panic. To be frank, we planted that information on the news to keep everyone safe and classified the file containing the truth.

But lately, there have been a few questions raised, rumours thrown around, gleaned information spilled. So, we decided that the people of Sinnoh, or anyone else that took the fancy, should have the right to know the truth. Who's 'we', do you ask? You'll find out soon enough. Have patience, truthseeker.

So, what you are holding right now is the newly de-classified report of what actually happened. So go ahead truthseeker, read on. Find the truth, if you want. But a quick warning:

The truth can be very dangerous and once you know, there's no turning back.

So, still want to read on?

Yes?

Okay, go ahead truthseeker, flip the page. Find out what happened.

But don't say I didn't warn you.


	2. Chapter 2

**Location: Iron Island, Sinnoh.**

**Current Situation: Team Galactic disturbance, steel-type pokémon rampage.**

**Operative Status: Green. Operative has followed her target to Iron Island and is currently keeping and eye on him in case of impending danger.**

'Typical.' She thought. 'Out of all the places in Sinnoh he could go, it just _had _to be this place.'

She shook the thoughts out of her head. No, Fate and Destiny were always like this. What they choose to happen may sometimes look insane, but here was always a reason for it to happen.

For now, though, all she had to do was to flow with it.

The operative was a teenage girl of around 14. She had straight brown hair that reached halfway down her back with a long fringe that was swept to the left side of her face, covering that eye completely. On said side of her face was a thin plait resting on that long fringe covering her left eye. Two short strands of hair hung above her right eye, which annoyed her because she could not brush them away as they would just spring back to their place. She gave up tidying them a long time ago.

Her right eye, which was not covered by her fringe, was sharp and piercing. It was brown, almost hazel as it had tints of green. She had a small sharp nose and brown eyebrows, now frowning.

She wore a red dress which ended just above her knees, and a white neckerchief which rested on her left shoulder, bearing a strange, red sign. The dress had three light red elastic zigzags just above her waist and the dress was short sleeved. On her feet were knee-length beige boots, with a strange sign (different from the last) engraved on the outsides, to make them more interesting. What was left visible of her legs (which were her knees) was covered by black leggings. She clutched a small black laptop to her chest with one hand while the other rested on a white shoulder bag, which crossed behind her from where the strap lay on her left shoulder. The bag had a red pokéball sign on it and seemed full to bursting with things jammed inside.

The operative was flying on her trusted Togekiss, following a ferry bound for Iron Island at a safe distance. She then made a face a slight amusement, which greatly contrasted the previous look of confusion and determination.

'We'll just have to see how this plays out then.' She said with a smile, 'Won't we?'

'_Yes, we will._' Lucario answered.

The male Lucario behind the operative was the girl's pride and joy. She had discovered his telepathic abilities upon capture, which Lucario had had as long as he could remember. Ever since his willing capture as a Riolu, the two had become fast friends, causing his evolution to a Lucario at a young age. From then on, Lucario was the girl's most valuable asset, and he walked with her for her company.

Just a few moments ago, Lucario had been coincidentally having the same thoughts as his trainer, but her reassuring words had left him at ease. She was right; they'll just have to see what happened next.

A sudden horn jolted Lucario from his train of thought. The ferry had just docked in Iron Island's harbour and the passengers, including the target, disembarked the boat. It always amazed the two that the target could always meet and make friends like it was his profession. Lucario had never really had much luck with friends, considering the circumstances in which he joined the girl's team, and again, according to the girl, sociability was never the girl's strong point either. They were never a sociable pair, more like the shy and nervous ones.

But to the operative, what amazed her most was the fact he could pull off amazing and brave feats, even at the age of 10. She had never seen such kindness and purity in someone before and ever since the events of Cameron Palace and after, she was certain of whom he was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the target, asking the male friend on his right where the pokémon centre was.

The target had two friends travelling with him at this moment in time. One of them, the male friend he was addressing, was tan with brown spiky hair and was about 15. Hew wore a brown and orange vest over a green t-shirt, with beige trousers. His most noticeable feature was his eyes, which were so slit like you couldn't even see them. The operative always wondered how he could see at all.

His female friend on his left, however, was a 10 year old spritely girl with blue hair held with three yellow hair clips. She had blue eyes to match her shade of hair and pale skin with soft features. She was wearing a pink and black dress so short that the operative would feel uncomfortable wearing it, much less a 10 year old rookie co-ordinator. She wore pink boots, with black knee high socks underneath, and was clutching a Piplup in her arms.

Yes, it never ceased to amaze the operative duo what the target could do, but then, that was why he was the target. Because his talents were nothing short of amazing.

The three had, by now, found the pokémon centre and had quickly rushed inside. The girl, however, landed outside in the shadows of the trees, next to a window so she could see what was going on.

She stepped lightly from Togekiss' back, her Lucario following her lead. Togekiss folded her wings and purred happily.

The girl produced a pokéball from her bag and enlarged it.

'Thank you, Togekiss. Return.' She said kindly as Togekiss was transformed into energy and stored inside. Together, she and Lucario watched the goings on inside the pokémon centre.

From what she know, the trio had come to the island, responding to a call from yet another friend, one with blonde curly and spiky hair who was very hyper-active and _definitely _needed medication. The trio had desperately begged the boy to let them help him in his crisis, which coincided with the crisis of Iron Island, where the boys' Empoleon had gone berserk and on a rampage. It was currently under observation in the pokémon centre, along with lots of other steel-types.

It seemed, though, that his trainer had already left to try and solve the crisis on his own, instead of waiting for the target. Of course the target wanted to help; it was the target after all.

The trio had now decided to leave and find their friend. Always willing to help.

As the group proceeded to leave and find their friend, the operative recalled Lucario into its pokéball, not wanting it caught up in the steel-type crisis.

She watched the target and co. walk towards the centre of the island, where lay the untamed rocky land which gave its home to many steel-type pokémon. The many steel-type pokémon rampaging and location of many mysteries she knew were yet to be discovered.

'And yet you never cease to amaze me, Ash.' She said quietly.


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N): Apart from my OC's, I do not own pokémon **

The girl watched the events unfold before her eyes. After Ash and his friends, Dawn and Brock, had set off to find their hyper-active friend Barry, she had followed quietly at a distance. After all, Ash was amazingly rash and she couldn't let him get beaten up too much. He _was_ important after all.

Then she had witnessed things she had previously thought impossible. After Ash had recklessly tried to tell a bunch of crazed steel-types to stop attacking everything in sight (really? Since when would _that_ ever work?) he was saved from a sticky situation involving a crazed Aggron who wanted to Flash Cannon him by Riley (Seriously? How weird do things get? What are the chances eh?) and our brave and innocent heroes decided to help him solve the Iron Island crisis at hand.

She had then received a call from headquarters (via laptop) that they tracked Barry's location, that all she had to do now was to keep an eye on the target.

After what felt like an age and a day of tailing the group around the barren landscape of Iron Island, the _finally_ picked up and found Team Galactic. It seemed Team Galactic wanted to use the Iron Ruins to find Spear Pillar for their evil purposes and some machine they were using was sending a sound wave over the island, making the steel-types go crazy. And apparently, finding Spear Pillar involved sending a blinding pillar of light into the sky, making the whole 'crazy steel-type' even worse. Unfortunately, Riley's Lucario got too close and went crazy, causing him to attack everything in sight. Not good.

After a demonstration that the power of Aura is awesome (yay!), Thunderbolt solves everything, Barry and Team Rocket are nothing but trouble (really, they are), crazed Steelix's are bad news, Ash _finally _puts an end to the Iron Island crisis by destroying Team Galactic's infernal machine with Pikachu's Thunderbolt (again, Thunderbolt solves everything) causing Team Galactic to retreat. But they weren't done yet.

She watched Team Galactic closely as they retreated, ready for any attack. But grunts were running _into_ the Iron Ruins holding cases. Suspicious. She decided to follow them in.

From the shadows, she could see them take black devices from the cases and clip them to the wall. (Bombs maybe?) The grunts then pressed a button on these devices which blinked blue and started beeping as the grunts ran out. Her eyes widened. Definitely bombs. She ran out quickly.

After she was a safe distance from the ruins, she released Lucario from his pokéball and explained the desperate situation, Lucario's eyes widening the more she recounted. They both knew that they had to formulate a plan and fast, even if it _did_ involve intervening, or the whole island would blow, target and innocent citizens included. She then looked to the target, who had run over to help his friends (and Team Rocket) who were stuck in the hole. No chance of him leaving any time soon. She also noticed that Riley and Lucario had disappeared to stop the bombs. She wished him good luck with that.

It seemed there was no other choice but to intervene. But first, a phone call.

She opened up her laptop, and opened the webcam tool. She dialled a number, which she had put into the contacts list for moments like these. The face of an aged man with silver hair and wise, foreboding and stern eyes that from under eyebrows that darkened his whole face.

'What is it?' he asked, with something that sounded like concern in his voice.

'Sir, I'm intervening now, this is it, the perfect time.' The girl stated, absolute certainty in her voice and expression.

'Yes, it had to happen sometime soon. Now I should explain what will happen next.' The man grunted.

'Err, can you make it quick?' the girl asked, nervously looking over her shoulder to the Iron Ruins, drumming her fingers on her thigh.

The man peered over her shoulder from over the camera and saw some extent of the crisis. 'Ah, I see. Well, to put it simply, after you intervene, I need you to travel with Ash and his friends.'

'W-what?' she stuttered. She wasn't expecting this.

'You could help him more that way and everything will easier. Plus, you always wanted to travel on a journey, right?'

'Yes, you've got a point…' she said thoughtfully. 'Ok.' She agreed with a nod of her head. 'I'll see how it goes.'

'Good.' Said the man and hung up.

The girl sighed. Typical, something like this happening. But it couldn't be helped.

She remembered the urgency of the situation and sprinted off with Lucario.

It seemed that Ash and co.'s plans had failed and they were stuck for ideas to rescue their friends. It seemed as though none of them had rope. Typical.

The group looked up at her approach.

'Are you okay? What's wrong?' she asked, even though she knew the answer perfectly well already.

'Well, we're trying our best to rescue our friends, who fell down this hole.' Stated Ash immediately. 'But we don't know how!'

'Well, I have some rope you could use.' She said, as she rummaged through the contents of her bag. Her face brightened as she found what she was looking for. 'Ah, here it is!'

She held on to one end of the rope while she threw the other down to the group below. 'Grab on, quick!'

Team Rocket were first off the mark, running over and speeding up the rope. Upon reaching the top, they sprinted off towards their Magikarp sub as if their lives depended on it (which, if fact, they did).

Barry rushed up the rope afterwards, shortly followed by Dawn, both of which thanked her greatly for her help. Ash and Brock followed suit.

'That's okay, just glad you're okay.' She answered, feeling rather nervous at all the attention she was getting.

With a swift movement she plucked the rope from the ground where it lay and stuffed it in her bag.

'See you around, I guess.' She said finally, before turning on her heel and running towards the Iron Ruins. There was something she just had to see.

'Wait! We don't even know who you are!' Ash shouted after her, but in vain. She was already out of earshot.

'Why would she be running towards the ruins, out of all places?' asked Brock, mostly to himself, as he was sure no one would really have the answer. With lost of different thoughts running through his head, Ash was silent. He was sure he had heard her voice before, but it was probably nothing. What were the odds that she was _that_ voice? So he simply watched her run.

The girl reached the Iron Ruins, and proceeded to hide behind and stone pillar, safe in the shadows. Lucario silently joined her.

'_Are you sure this is safe? Those bombs could blow any minute!'_ he gestured frantically.

'Have faith, Lucario. If he can't do it, we'll take over.' She answered, readying the video webcam on her laptop. From the safety of the darkness, she silently watched Riley's idea of bomb diffusion.

What she saw was staggeringly impressive.

He'd tried everything he could think of to stop the bombs, even resorting to just pulling them off the pillars, but nothing seemed to work.

Then the bombs blinked red.

He knew this was his last chance to save the island and everything on it, so he fought against the shockwave of the blast and summoned all of his strength. He was going to need it.

From the shadows, the girl and her Lucario braced themselves against the blast to come. But it never came.

The girl watched in utter shock, horror, and amazement as Riley stopped the blast with his and his Lucario's _aura_. Even she wouldn't dare try that (then again, she probably wouldn't even let the bombs come to that stage anyway.)

With shaking hands, she held up her laptop and clicked RECORD. She recorded in awe until the island was safe from exploding once more. Even as Riley left, she still stood there, trying to process what happened. After a few moments, she pulled herself together and sent the video to HQ. Almost she a phone call from the same man as before.

'When did this happen?' he inquired.

'Just now.' She replied.

The man thought in silence on the other end. At last, he came up with an answer.

'I want you to keep tabs on him too. See if you can get him to travel as we need to watch him too.'

'Right. I'll see what I can do.' She replied back.

After a moment of neither hanging up, she asked, 'Sir, if three are already confirmed and the target possibly being one too, do you think Riley is the last?'

'I don't know to be honest. We'll just have to see. But it is possible.' He stated, before hanging up.

The girl contemplated this for a moment.

'This could get interesting.' She said finally, with a hint of determination in her voice. Lucario couldn't agree more with that.

'Come on, Lucario, let's go see some ruins!' she said, before walking away in a good mood. Lucario followed, wondering why ruins always looked the same; dark, dank and boring.

A while later, Lucario was thinking the same thoughts as he and the girl sat atop part of the ruins unnoticed while down below, Professor Carolina, who had arrived at the island shortly after the near death experience, was giving the group a lecture on how the ruins fitted in with the Sinnoh time-space legend. The girl was casually listening in because she thought it was interesting. This went on for a while. She then suddenly perked up as if she had been electrocuted.

Professor Carolina had asked Riley whether he wanted to assist her in her research of the Iron Ruins and the girl knew that it would be bad news if he said yes. She knew she somehow had to get him to tag along with the trio if the big plans were to succeed. She quickly formulated a plan and put it into action. Fortunately, the professor hadn't stopped talking yet so she still had time.

She decided to send him a message through the power of Aura, as he could use it. She just hoped it wouldn't startle him too much.

'_You mustn't say yes, just don't,'_ she began, '_Tell her anything, I dunno, maybe you're going to visit relatives for a while, yeah, that'll do!_' She sent him. If he was startled by this sudden outburst, he didn't show it, thankfully.

And thankfully, he did decline the offer with a very shaky and poor excuse of visiting relatives. But at least everything bought the poor excuse.

Once they were starting to exit the ruins she got up and silently padded across the ruins with anyone noticing, Lucario in tow.

She jumped down from the top of the ruins in time to see Professor Carolina split from the group, then Barry, who rushed to the pokémon centre to check up on Empoleon. The girl ran after the remainder of the group.

She noticed Ash had fallen behind the group and was talking with Pikachu (if you could call it talking) so when she was within earshot she called out.

'Hey!' she said. 'Are you okay?'

He turned round to greet her. 'Hi!' he started, 'Where did you go?'

'Oh, there was something I urgently needed to do, sorry about that.' She replied with a hint of laughter in her voice.

The two walked on behind the rest of the group, who were too deep in conversation (they were too far away to know what they were talking about) to notice her arrival. Finally, Ash spoke up.

'You know, we never got round to introducing ourselves, so, I'm Ash and this is my partner Pikachu.' Pikachu chimed in with a 'Pika pika!'

Hi. I'm Jasmine and this is Lucario.' She said.


	4. Chapter 4

Some time later, the group (including Jasmine, as she was part of the group now) was sitting in the Pokémon Centre. No one was saying anything, just fidgeting, not knowing what to say. Riley was looking particularly fidgety, occasionally glancing in the direction of Jasmine, looking scared when he did. She couldn't blame him. When she had introduced herself to the group, he had turned pale very quickly. Thankfully, he hadn't said anything, or there would have been _a lot _of difficult things to sort out. She waved the thought aside, as it had never happened. Focus on the present.

She decided to break the ice. 'So, uh, where are you going next?'

Oh, we are going to Chocovine Town, where my next contest is held!' exclaimed Dawn excitedly.

'That's cool! Good luck then!' replied Jasmine

'Thank you!' said Dawn.

Suddenly, the adverts on the wall mounted TV stopped rolling and Sinnoh Now was back on air. The voice over guy introduced the presenter, Rhonda. The group turned to hear what she had to say.

'Breaking News!' announced Rhonda, 'A flu epidemic has spread from Sandgem Town to Chocovine Town! Those towns have locked down under quarantine to prevent a further spread and no one is allowed in or out.'

The group turned to look at each other.

'Well, I guess Chocovine Town is out of the question.' Said Brock, pretty much stating the obvious.

'So where do we go now?' asked Dawn.

'Well, there is a direct ferry from here to Snowpoint City, but it won't be for a few days. Do you want to wait here for it?'

'Yeah, sure!' Ash and Dawn replied in unison.

Meanwhile, while they were talking, Jasmine sat listening to them, concentrating on Ash. If it was him, then, when would it happen? It was a dangerous time for this. And Riley was concentrating on her, wondering just _who_ she was and just _what_ was happening.

That night, after a hearty dinner that Brock cooked for them all, the group all lay fast asleep in the Pokémon Centre rooms. All, except one.

Jasmine wasn't sleeping, but sitting at the desk in the room tapping away at her laptop tirelessly. Lucario slept soundly, curled up at the end of the bed.

She was very, trying not to fall asleep, but slowly failing. Every now and again, she would emit a small yawn and her eyelids were drooping more by every minute that passed. But she couldn't quit now, she was onto something.

Suddenly, there was a sharp knocking on the door.

'Huh,' she wondered, 'Who would be up at this time of night, let alone wanting to talk to me?'

And then she realised who it would probably be.

And she was right.

Standing at the door was Riley.

'Oh, it's you.' She said, 'I kinda figured this would happen.'

We _really_ need to talk.' He replied, letting himself in.

She wondered what to say.

She invited him to sit on the bed, being careful not to disturb Lucario, and sat on the chair at the desk. She checked the computer screen once before turning to face him. Nothing new, she would just have to keep waiting.

'Start explaining, what's going on?' stated Riley as soon as he sat down.

Jasmine smiled shrewdly. 'Well, everything happens for a reason, and Fate and Destiny chose this path. This was meant to happen.'

Riley blinked.

Jasmine sighed. Typical males.

'I _mean_, that you weren't _meant _to stay here, you are _meant_ to go with Ash. This would have happened anyway, but I just sped it up, for the need of our purposes.'

'Our?'

'Later.' She replied as she waved the question aside. 'I mean, I need to go with Ash too, so, yeah.' She concluded.

Riley still didn't get it.

'I really should explain myself, huh?' she sighed, annoyed by the stupidity of men, 'You see, I'm-'

She was cut off by a beeping sound from her laptop. She turned around to see what changes there were.

She was delighted.

The laptop had done _exactly_ what she wanted.

'Yes!' she shouted, 'Yes, Yes, YES!' Then she realised Lucario was still asleep, and she had just woken up.

'_Huh? What's going on?'_ he asked.

'Wait, your Lucario can TALK?' Through TELEPATHY?' shouted Riley in a complete state of shock.

'_Stop stating the obvious.'_ Lucario and Jasmine said in unison.

'Okay, this is WEIRD,' Riley rambled on, 'what is going ON?'

But no one was paying attention to him now.

'I can't believe we finally found it!' Jasmine gasped, giddy with excitement and happiness, 'We can _finally_ do something!'

'_Shall we prepare?'_ Lucario asked, eyes shining.

'Yes! Yes, Yes!' she shouted. She rushed off to pack up her bag, Riley still dazed on the bed.

But when Lucario glanced at the laptop screen again, he noticed something else. He shuddered when he realised what it was.

'_Wait! Look!_' He pointed frantically at the screen. Jasmine stopped and came to look. Her eyes immediately flashed to worry, anger and fear.

'No,' she said, 'we've been here too long. They're coming.'

'What? Who's coming?' said Riley, who still had no idea what was going on.

'No time,' she said frantically, 'We have to go NOW. Go wake everyone and –'

But she didn't get to finish her sentence. Just then, the window shattered and a black arrow burst through. Out of reflexes, Jasmine raised her hand to it and there was a blue glow. A sky blue barrier formed around her, the arrow bounced off harmlessly, the tip splintering when it did. When she lowered her hand, the light and barrier faded and disappeared.

Riley gasped in shock and awe.

'Wait! You're a… you're an… Aura Guardian?'

She gave her weird smile. 'Took you long enough.'

Suddenly, a rain of black arrows poured in from the smashed window. She swatted most away, sometimes quickly plucking one from the air and hurling it back through the window, hoping to strike whoever was attacking.

'And_ this_ is why we have to go now.' She concluded.


	5. Chapter 5

And that was the end of the argument. And the questions.

They evacuated the room quickly under a rain of arrows and while Riley ran off to scramble his possessions together, Jasmine went to waken the others.

Without bothering to knock, she ran straight into Ash's room. She went up to him and shook him awake.

'Wake up Ash!' she shouted. 'We have to get out of here NOW!'

'Huh? What? Where?' Ash murmured sleepily. Then 'Wha-! What's going on?'

'Get out of here NOW. We're under attack!' she screamed as the window shattered.

'AAAHHHHH!' Ash shouted as glass rained on the carpet.

'Wake up as many people as you can. I'll meet you at the entrance.' She said she ran out, Lucario in tow.

Ash then decided that the situation was really serious. He ran out with his things and started banging on doors and generally causing a racket, trying to wake people up so they could evacuate. People were grouchy and disgruntled at first but as soon as they felt the shudders the Pokémon Centre took from various blows outside caused them to run outside screaming.

Meanwhile, Jasmine had run down to the lobby of the Pokémon Centre to find Nurse Joy screaming as plaster from the ceiling started to crash to the floor.

'Nurse Joy, we have to get out NOW!' Jasmine screamed.

'But what about the pokémon?' asked Nurse Joy.

'I'll help you get them out!' she replied.

They rushed through rooms and rooms, carrying out scared pokémon until the rooms were empty and everyone had gotten out. They ran out as the building collapsed from the strain of the endless attacks. It crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust.

Riley, Ash and co. ran up to Jasmine as Nurse Joy ran to check on the crowd of people congregated around the wreck of the Pokémon Centre.

'What happening? What's going on?' asked Dawn, looking scared. Piplup was hugged to her chest, muttering a sad 'Pip-piplup..'

'We have to get out of here before anything else can happen; we can't endanger anyone else.' Was all Jasmine said.

'What do you mean?' asked Ash but she wasn't listening.

She was staring at a group of black clad men and women, standing far away from the crowd and generally trying to pretend they didn't exist. It wasn't working. Jasmine didn't need to see their auras to know that they were the ones after her.

The men wore a full black suit and jacket and had jet black hair shielding their eyes making them look more ominous. The women were pretty much the same, only with skirts and black tights and their and their jet black hair in a high ponytail, making them look business-like. All bore a strange symbol on their jackets, similar to the one Jasmine bore herself, only more warped and pure white.

They seemed to argue with each other in fairly raised voices, sounding like blaming each other for the Pokémon Centre's collapse and how not good it was for their task from the snippets of chatter she caught. Yes, she knew exactly who they were and why they were here.

'Trying to blend in?' she thought, 'Nice try.' A smile catching the corners of her lips at her thought. She would just direct themselves away from the trouble makers while they bickered on like the useless grunts they were.

She motioned for them to be silent while they crept into a field of rocks. Even if one of the 'grunts' (as Jasmine had so thought of them) happened to look up, they would just mistake the group for some oddly shaped rocks. Well, they are grunts after all.

The plan seemed to be working. The rest of the team had picked up that the black clad people were dangerous and the air of urgency and danger and did what they were told. Until…

_Tap!_ Jasmine cringed at the awfully loud sounding sound of a stone clattering among the rocks. She looked back to see Ash standing sheepishly looking at the ground.

Typical.

Of _course_ something had to happen. It always did. She silently hoped the grunts had been to busy arguing to notice the suspicious noise or passed it off for a wild pokémon.

But it just doesn't work that way. It never did.

One of the five arguing grunts looked up. He made his way over in the direction of the noise. The group silently scrambled around a large rock in hopes that the grunt would just walk away and pass off the noise. Instead, he lingered around the area of the noise, moving ever closer to their hiding place. He paused so close to them that they could hear the man breathing.

At this moment, Fate and Destiny decided to be unkind. A passing breeze brought a feather from a bird pokémon with it, most likely a Wingull. It floated past the hiding group and brushed past Ash's nose. Immediately, it started twitching. He was going to sneeze.

There was a silent mass panic behind the rock. Brock and Dawn, along with help from Ash, tried to stop him from sneezing by putting a hand on Ash's nose while Jasmine and Riley continued to watch the grunt in hope that he would go away.

Then three different things happened:

Number one; Ash sneezed. Despite the trio's best efforts to prevent the inevitable, Ash sneezed. It echoed off the landscape and rock, altogether sounding so much louder. They were doomed.

Number two; Unsurprisingly, the grunt looking for them was clever enough to pick this up and know that random sneeze + mysterious sound = target people hiding behind the large rock. He quickly called over his four friends, two male, two female, to come and help him chase the group down. They were doubly doomed.

Number three; As Jasmine knew they were doubly doomed, she decided to ditch the hope that they wouldn't find the group behind the rock and started shouting orders to her friends.

They picked up the message thankfully quickly and started running into the barren rock field, hopefully losing their pursuers. However, the grunts were not as dumb now as they had found their target and understood the severity of their mission and were somehow able to track them down however far they ran. Though the others were perplexed on how the mysterious people could do that, Jasmine grew more anxious and worried by the second.

'Not as dumb as they look, huh,' she muttered to herself, 'Well, guess I have no choice.'

She turned round to face them.

The grunts slowed down to a halt, glad that their job had become so easy. One by one, they each produced three pokéballs from their belts and launched them into what they hoped would be a quick and easy battle. Unfortunately for them, capture didn't seem like an appealing thought for Jasmine. She brought three pokéballs from her bag and threw them into the battle.

'Everyone, time to battle!' she cried.

The pokéballs burst open and in a flash of white light appeared a female Gardevoir, a female Togekiss and a female Glaceon. In a single leap, Lucario jumped from Jasmine's side to the makeshift battlefield.

Upon seeing the red dressed girl's pokémon, the five grunts wasted no time in issuing commands to the fifteen pokémon in front of them, Pidgeotto.

'Pidgeotto, Air Slash!' they all cried simultaneously.

Each Pidgeotto formed a sphere of white glowing wind on one of their wings and launched all of them forward at the same time.

But Jasmine was prepared for that.

'Togekiss, counter with your Air Slash!' she shouted.

Togekiss formed its own sphere of wind and launched it forward. It made contact with the other Air Slashes, causing a small explosion in mid air and blocking the view of the battle and attacks but some remaining attacks were able to escape the explosion and more forward. But another attack emerged from the smoke to oppose the others.

An Aura Sphere polished off the rest of the Air Slashes, causing another explosion, allowing another to break through and hit some of the Pidgeotto. They took a great amount of damage, even with fighting type move not being at a disadvantage, but still managed to stay in the air and in the battle.

The smoke cleared to and there stood Lucario, paws smoking from the last attack. Togekiss noticed this and cheerfully thanked Lucario for helping her out.

'_You're welcome.'_ Lucario responded.

Ash, Dawn and Brock blinked a few times. Then they shouted 'Your Lucario can talk?' simultaneously.

'Telepathy,' Jasmine replied, 'Tell you later.'

She turned back to her pokémon.

'Everyone,' she commanded, 'I need you to attack the Pidgeotto until they faint. I have something to do.' Her pokémon nodded in response and turned round to attack their opponents. Meanwhile, Jasmine turned back to the group.

'Do you guys have flying type pokémon you can fly on? She asked them.

'Yeah, we do. Why?' replied Ash.

'I need you to get away now. It's too dangerous.' Was her reply.

'But what about you?' asked Dawn.

'I'll catch up later, don't worry.' Replied Jasmine.

She turned back to the battle at hand.

The group turned to look at each other.

'Well, should we do it?' asked Ash.

'We should. We don't want to be endangered any more and that is what Jasmine wanted, right?' Brock answered.

'I guess that makes sense…' Ash trailed off, thinking. He looked up. 'Okay! Let's go!'

In a flurry of white flashes, the group had contributed three flying types big enough to carry them all. In total they had a Staraptor and a Metagross and Salamence (courtesy of Riley). They clambered onto the fliers, Ash on Staraptor, Dawn on Metagross and Riley and Brock on Salamence. One by one they took off.

With a final finishing blow, the last of the Pidgeotto were defeated, the grunts stood staring dumbfoundedly at their defeat at the hands of a teenage girl. But soon their shock turned to rage as they sought revenge for their loss, to win once and for all, for the mission. They rushed at her, fists curled and ready, determined to capture her like their task ordered.

But what they didn't know was that they were no match for her.

She deflected all of their attacks with ease, countering with some of her own. The grunts staggered back, shocked at her skills and power.

She smirked. 'Didn't expect that, did you?'

Then she proceeded to rush at them with her attacks.

She flung out kicks and punches, like a whirling tornado, her attackers not fast enough to stop her. At the end of the barrage of attacks, the grunts lay on the ground, dazed. Which gave her enough time to ensure her and her friends safe getaways.

From her bag, she took a small drawstring pouch. She gently dipped her fingers into the pouch and withdrew a pinch of silver powder. She then walked up to the dazed grunts and scattered the dust over them, covering her nose and mouth as she did so. She stood back and waited for the effects.

After a few breaths, the grunts started to drop off to sleep. A few started snoring. Jasmine smiled, glad that the powder had been successful again. She returned her pokémon except for Togekiss and Lucario. She and Lucario hopped onto Togekiss and took off after the others.


	6. Chapter 6

Jasmine soon caught up to the rest of the group.

'Are you okay?' asked Dawn.

'Yeah, don't worry.' She replied quickly.

'But what about those people in black? What about them?' asked Ash.

'Oh, they'll be fine, just soundly sleeping for half an hour. We should be okay until then.' Jasmine stated.

'Okay, you've got to tell me what's going on. What's happening?' said Ash.

'Not here, we'll land first.' She replied.

She then proceeded to lead the group over the sea to a fairly wooded area, far away from Iron Island and the danger there.

They soon landed in a forest clearing, devoid of any signs of human life, pokémon hopefully the only life here.

The group immediately thanked the flying pokémon and returned them to their pokéballs. As soon as this was done, Ash brought up his question again.

'So, what is happening? What's going on?' Ash asked again.

She motioned for them all to sit, implying that it would be a long story. Soon they were all sat in a tight circle and Jasmine was ready to begin. Everyone leaned forward expectantly.

'Well, I guess to put it simply…' she trailed off, trying to think how to best put her words, 'Okay, I am an Aura Guardian.'

Everyone stared at her in a shocked silence, except Riley, who already knew.

After a few moments of this, Ash broke the silence. 'Wait! What, really?'

'Yes, I am.' Jasmine replied. 'But that's only part of it. You see, there is a whole group of Aura Guardians called the Aura Institute.'

'Okay, _that_ I didn't know. Wait, really?' asked Riley.

'Yes.' She replied.

'So, I'm guessing you're one of them?' asked Ash.

'Again, yes.' Jasmine replied again.'

'Sooo…'

'What we do'

'Yeah.'

'Well…' Jasmine thought 'Does have fun count? Well we learn stuff, recruit people, top secret stuff, I guess? Yeah.'

' "Top secret stuff?" What's that?'

It's top secret.'

'Oh.'

'Okay, so, who are the people in black?' asked Brock.

For a moment, Brock could see her tense up. For less than a split second, her hands clenched up, her brow furrowed, her mood seemingly angry. Then, just as soon as the moment came, it left, leaving her usual unwavering self.

'Those people… they're big trouble.' She began.

The groups attention was now solely on her, eyes fixed, breath baited. She began.

'Well, there was once a time when the Aura Guardians were united, unrivalled, unchallenged. But only a few years ago, something happened, I don't know what, and A-… someone left the Institute. For a while, no one heard from him, but several months later, he approached the Institute, asking the Aura Guardians to join him cause, with the promise of a new and better world.'

The clearing was silent now, the new information sinking in slowly and the enormity of the danger striking fear into their hearts.

Jasmine carried on. 'At first, no one would join him, thinking his ideals ridiculous. But after a while, our members started leaving the Institute who were tempted by the offer of a fresh start, to right the wrongs of the world, but then more and more people left. That evil organisation grew to rival the Institute. And then…'

She paused, looking down, sorrow evident in her voice. The others noticed this too, beginning to wonder what had happened to make her sad like this. Finally, she spoke up again.

'One day, they came back to the Institute and broke in. Went straight to the room where all the Lucarios and Riolus live until we give them to our members. They took them all. The fighting in the room was loud enough to alert us of what was happening, but we couldn't do anything to help them. They raided the entire building for any more Riolus or Lucarios, taking many from our members. And just as soon as they had come, they left. As they did so, they announced that they, Team Aura, would reshape the world with the power of Aura into a better, happier place. I think that sounds absolutely ridiculous.'

'So, if Team Aura stole all the Riolus and Lucarios, what about yours?' Riley asked.

'I hid Lucario in his pokéball and hid in the secret rooms of the Library.' Jasmine replied. 'They didn't find me, and even if they did, they wouldn't consider _me_ a major threat, being the fourteen year old girl I am.'

'So you're going after these people to get the pokémon back?' Asked Ash.

'And hopefully disband them, yes.' She replied.

There was a silence, everyone considering the scale of the problem. Finally, Ash broke the silence.

'So, can I come too?'

Jasmine was silent for a moment, contemplating the proposal, before finally answering:

'No.'

'But why not?' Ash pleaded.

'Just too dangerous, I'm afraid. This is my problem and I don't want to get you into a bigger mess that I've already got you in.'

But Ash was insistent. 'But I really want to help you! I think it's horrible when pokémon are mistreated like that and I really want to rescue them!'

This time, Jasmine thought longer about this question than she did before. After a little while, she answered.

'Well, I suppose I can't change your mind and I can't stop you doing what you deem right. In that case, if you want to come, you can.'

Ash let out a whoop of excitement. 'Yeah!' Dawn raised her hand.

'Can we come too? All of us?'

'Only if you want to come.' Was her reply. Soon the whole group of friends had volunteered to come along, wanting to set wrongs right. While everyone had an animated discussion about kicking bad guy butt, Jasmine stood and raised her had for silence. Everyone grew quiet and began to listen. She started to speak.

'Since I only know the general area of Team Aura's headquarters, we will need to travel via pokémon somewhere else so my computer can get a better reading. We will be leaving now.'

'What? No sleeping or rest?' Ash exclaimed.

'Let's think about it this way. The sooner we can bring about the downfall of Team Aura and return all of the stolen pokémon, the sooner you can sleep in late.'

Ash had a very sudden change of heart.

Everyone boarded their respective pokémon and rose into the air. Jasmine rode in front on Togekiss, leading the way.

'To Snowpoint City!' she cried.

The pokémon and riders soared away into the distance and rising sun.


	7. Chapter 7

The sun rose on a northerly city covered in year round snow. The city's name was Snowpoint, far north of Mount Coronet. Right now, the citizens were beginning to stir and awaken. Just as they began to put on their dressing gowns and huddle around the fire to fend away the cold, the snow crunched under the feet of both humans and pokémon alike.

The flying pokémon were returned to their pokéballs for a well-deserved rest while the group sat down at a picnic table. Upon sitting down, Jasmine immediately took out her laptop and started tapping away. Silence ensued as no one had the nerve to break it until Jasmine looked up.

'You're welcome to go into the city if you wish.' She stated. 'I might be a while and I'll come and find you when I'm done.'

Most of the group nodded and walked off into town. However, one person stayed.

Ash sat in silence next to Jasmine, peering at her laptop screen, watching her work. The screen showed a map the Sinnoh region, shaded different shades of blue in different areas. There was a scan currently in progress, seemingly scanning the blue tinted map.

'What is that?' asked Ash.

Jasmine turned around from her work. 'Oh? This is a map of the Sinnoh region I am scanning.'

'But why is it blue?'

Jasmine smiled at the question. 'It's a little program I installed. The blue is aura. The different shades of blue represent different concentrations of aura in different places. You see, Team Aura is completely made up of Aura Guardians and Aura Guardians have a brighter aura than normal people. They should be easy to find. Before, I managed to track the general area of their whereabouts, which led me here. They should be somewhere nearby.'

Ash raised a question. 'But if their aura is so bright, won't it show up immediately on the map?'

Jasmine sighed. 'That's a good question. They've somehow managed to shield their aura from prying eyes. That's why I'm having such a hard time trying to find them. I don't know of any aura- shielding technology they could have, unless they stole it from us…' she trailed off, thinking. Finally, she spoke up again. 'They can't have stolen our technology; they must have developed their own. But I'm close to tracking them, it shouldn't take much longer.'

They sat in silence for a couple of awkward minutes, staring at the ever-same laptop screen. Ash was ready to fall asleep, his eyelids drooping lower by each passing second. Beside him, Jasmine emitted a small yawn, showing her lack of sleep.

After a while, the silence became too much. Ash decided to say something.

'… There's a secret room in your library?'

Jasmine looked up brightly. 'Oh, yes, there is! It's where all the sacred and dangerous books are kept. Not many people know about it but because I've spent so much time in the library, I found out about it soon enough. The books there are very interesting.'

Ash listened in silence. He thought about how amazing the Institute sounded, all its secrets and wonders. He wondered if he should show interest in joining and become an Aura Guardian. The more he wondered, the more torn he felt. He'd always wanted to a Pokémon Master, but after listening to the wonders of the Institute, he wondered whether he should pursue the path of Aura.

Ash was still trailing off in thought when a sharp beeping snapped him out of it. He glanced over to the laptop screen to see the scanner flashing a 'Complete' sign, signalling the finding of Team Aura's headquarters.

Jasmine's head had also snapped up and was now staring at the screen, beaming.

'Finally' she shouted, 'We have the location! Now we can go and bring them down!'

Both Jasmine and Ash stood up, picking up their bags.

'Let's go!' said Ash excitedly.

Jasmine nodded and they both set off.

The noise hit them before the sight. The market place was bustling with activity, little stalls set up selling their wares. The deafening sounds of advertising and haggling filled their ears as they tried to find their friends in the sea of heads. In theory, they should have been easy to find, looking for a white beanie, spiky brown hair and a blue hat but it was surprisingly difficult. After five straight minutes of wandering aimlessly through the crowds trying to find their friends, they finally found the three. Dawn was, to no surprise, shopping, today, at the jewellery stand. Brock and Riley were standing back, watching her, looking mortally bored. At the sound of approaching footsteps, the boys looked up to find their saviours, glad to be free of this tedious torture. Dawn also looked up, although somewhat reluctantly.

'We're going now.' started Jasmine. 'We've found the headquarters so we can set out now.'

'Where was it?' asked Brock.

'Hidden in a mountain range just north of here. Quite sensible of them, actually, seeing as I had a lot of trouble finding them, of course, as well as other technology.' She answered.

'Okay! Let's go!' exclaimed Ash.

The group left the marketplace, and out of the city, heading for the mountain range. As they left, a man watched their every move. He was dressed in a familiar looking suit, coat and shades. After they had left, he pulled out a headset and put it on. He spoke into it.

'They have been found. They are heading north in the direction of HQ.'

'Understood.' came another male voice from the other end. After hearing this, the black suited man put away the headset. He soon melted into the crowd.

Deep in the mountains, a man listened to what a grunt had to say. This man was dressed in a black jacket, shirt trousers and shoes. He also wore dark glasses that hid his eyes and his brown slick hair was brushed to the side of his head. He nodded at the grunts words, soaking up the information. He was so deep in thought that he did not notice when the grunt stopped speaking.

'Sir,' he asked, 'what are your orders?'

The man in black took a moment of thought before speaking. 'Send out the elite team. We need to dispose of them quickly before they can reach us.'

The grunt nodded before running off to relay the orders. The man in black was now in the room alone. He smirked, an evil smirk, and laughed, an evil laugh.

'Soon, the plans will succeed, and _she _won't be in the way.' he, Beta, said, smirk spreading across his lips.


End file.
